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“You are called Man, and the nations of the world are not called Man.” # 26347-EYAL-6BOOKS - 26347-Bamidbar-EYAL | 13 - B | 18-08-19 | 13:48:25 | SR:-- | Black 26347-EYAL-6BOOKS
A Jew who behaves like the gentiles loses this title. What is the essence
of this title Man, distinguishing between one who observes Torah and
mitzvot and one who behaves like the gentiles?
The Zohar states that a person’s neshamah contains a spark of Divinity.
For this reason, we do not discard body parts, even the fingernails and
toenails. Only the hair and excretions may be discarded, as “gifts to the
negative forces.”
The word (man) is numerically equivalent to the Heavenly Name
with its letters spelled out. Hashem, Yisrael, and the Torah are
one. Only when a person is bound to Hashem and His Torah is he worthy
of being similar to His holy Name. For this reason, man was created only
one, and Chava was created from his rib, also a single unit.
Chazal relate that Achav had no desire for his wife. Therefore, she placed
pictures of women in his chariot. How could he have begot seventy The name Man depicts a singular level of kedushah, on condition that the
children without being interested in his wife? He did have an interest in person binds himself to the oneness of Hashem and the Torah. But one
her, but Izevel wanted to increase it. who goes in the ways of the gentiles loses this epithet.
Achav was always straddling opposing forces. On the one hand, he David Hamelech was saddened that he was bereft of mitzvot when in the
studied Torah and even interpreted it in eighty-five ways. He was also bathhouse. Then he remembered his brit milah and was mollified. The
punctilious to avoid the sin of lashon hara. Hashem granted him success. reason for his anguish is as stated above. Man is elevated only as long as
He ruled unequivocally and emerged victorious in battle. He even had half he connects himself to the Torah. When David thought he had lost this
his sins forgiven. On the other hand, he transgressed the three cardinal connection, he became aggrieved.
sins. He claimed that Moshe’s words held no water, as the rains continued The Torah surrounds us with mitzvot all day long. The pasuk, “Seven
even as they sinned. He also attempted to kill Eliyahu Hanavi.How was times a day I have praised You” refers to the following seven mitzvot: the
this possible? four fringes on the tzitzit, tefillin, brit milah, and mezuzah.
Chazal explain the words “This is the teaching regarding a man if he will
die in a tent” to mean that Torah endures only in one who “kills himself
for it.” This means that one should break his negative traits. He can do
